By Jack Brady, Staff Writer
Wed, Jun 11, 2014 - 03:40PM
Promising Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks has been pinpointed as the danger man by South Sydney players as the two clubs gear up for battle at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

With three wins on the trot, the Rabbitohs have been hitting their straps in the recent weeks but will have to be wary of this week's opponents who returned to form last week after a solid win in Newcastle – a Brooks 40/20 proving to be the momentum turner in the Tigers' 23-20 win.

It was only in Round 3 when these two teams last met and it was Brooks who produced two try assists, one line break assists and 346 kick metres as the Tigers prevailed with a 25-16 upset, something that the Rabbitohs were certainly not happy with at the time.

Adam Reynolds, the man who will be directly opposite Brooks on Friday night, agrees that the 19-year-old whiz kid is the man his team will have to be most cautious of as he continues his development in the NRL.

Free rail travel to ANZ Stadium for members and ticket holders

"It should be a good contest. They're playing with a real confidence at the moment and so is Brooks. He is a good player and he's looking dangerous so it's going to be a good challenge for our boys," Reynolds said.

"We just have to be together as a team. They have a few other individuals there who are dangerous like Tedesco at the back there. [Brooks & Tedesco's] little combination there has grown over time this year so we'll have to step up."

Rabbitohs captain John Sutton resonated with his halves partner before adding his thoughts on how Reynolds himself was travelling this season.

"I think the Tigers are playing really good football. We'll definitely have to be on our game and Luke Brooks has been playing really well so he's definitely a player to watch," Sutton said.

"[Though] Adam's been playing well for us. His defence has been great all season and I think he's really finding his feet in attack so it should be a good contest for him and I'm sure he's looking forward to it."

While young Brooks is getting the well-deserved plaudits, Reynolds has been no slouch this season either having conjured four line breaks, eight try assists, four line break assists and 25 tackle breaks.

"I'm getting a bit of confidence back. It's always easy to do well when the team's going well. Credit to our boys, we have been playing better these past couple of weeks," Reynolds said.

While several members of the club have lamented that execution has been lacking in recent times, Reynolds appeared pleased with their efforts in Perth against the Warriors last Saturday night.

"It is pleasing to get those wins. In saying that, we're still not where we want to be; we have a lot of improvement ahead of us. [These wins] are just a little reward for all the hard work we have been putting in at training but there is still a long way to go," Reynolds said.

"It's going to be a tough game. They have been playing some good footy... with a lot of energy and they've been completing with the ball pretty well so we're going to have to turn up and shut them down on Friday night."

While the Rabbitohs will be missing the likes of Greg Inglis, Chris McQueen and Ben Te'o to Queensland Origin duty and Dylan Walker sidelined for four to six weeks with a thumb injury, the Rabbitohs have enlisted the likes of Nathan Merritt, Ben Lowe and Alex Johnston to fill the gaps on Friday night.

Late mail. Rabbitohs: Centre Bryson Goodwin and winger Joel Reddy are in doubt with elbow and quad injuries respectively, with Lote Tuqiri on standby and Alex Johnston a chance to shift to centre in his own return from a quad injury.

Some people have mentioned that Souths halves are stronger than ours. At 5/8 they are obviously stronger, however I'd take Brooks over Reynolds.

Tigerdon wrote:Late mail. Rabbitohs: Centre Bryson Goodwin and winger Joel Reddy are in doubt with elbow and quad injuries respectively, with Lote Tuqiri on standby and Alex Johnston a chance to shift to centre in his own return from a quad injury.

Some people have mentioned that Souths halves are stronger than ours. At 5/8 they are obviously stronger, however I'd take Brooks over Reynolds.

Sutton only looks good when he has space and can play off the back of the Burgess boys go forward and Isaac Luke getting out of dummy half Shutting them down is the key , if we can get up in their faces with anew backline they will come up with errors

We seem to be considerably stronger in the outside backs, halves you would have to say Souths are stronger although I don't go in for all the Anasta hate, the forward battle is the important one and whoever wins that will win although their pack isn't great outside the Burgesses but they will be up for it , although Issac Luke at hooker gives them a real advantage while we have a stronger bench.

IMO Brooks has it over Reynolds in try assists and general backline attacking plays.
Reynolds goal kicking is a plus for him.
Both equal in defence.
Kicking in general play, is equal.
In five years time from now... I'm anticipating Brooks qualities as an all round halfback , should see him leapfrog Hodkinson and Reynolds for the NSW spot.

Although I don't agree with Milky's assertion that Brooks outplayed Reynolds, he was certainly playing behind a forward pack that was by and large dominated and as such, I thought he did quite well. A few dumb plays - to be expected from time to time especially with the team under pressure. But I don't think Reynolds dominated like he probably should have. Certainly did nothing to make a claim for Origin III.